This Just In: Social Media Ruining Journalism

Eyewitness news is an old phenomenon for local television stations: a citizen’s video recording of a gas station robbery, or some such sensational event, becomes free “news” for the station, relieving them of the burden of journalism.

Today, the increasing popularity of citizen journalism is blurring the line that once separated the gatekeepers of current events knowledge (journalists) from their well-informed, but ultimately passive brethren (readers).

While traditionally exclusive news companies like the Washington Post, whose reporters have privileged access to important sources, are slow to admit citizen journalists into their ranks, social media sites don’t ask for press credentials.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter define huge audiences which news media see as their potential readership. John Kelly, a journalist for the Washington Post, says that while the Huffington Post doesn’t compete with the Washington Post in terms of journalism, defined as judgment, analysis and explanation, it does compete in terms of readers.

Thoughts from the Oxford Social Media Convention can be found, naturally, on Twitter at #oxsmc09. Here are some of the more interesting ones: